Hatching & Brooding Your Own Chicks: Chickens, Turkeys, Ducks, Geese, Guinea Fowl
240
Hatching & Brooding Your Own Chicks: Chickens, Turkeys, Ducks, Geese, Guinea Fowl
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Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781612120140 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Storey Publishing, LLC |
| Publication date: | 01/15/2013 |
| Pages: | 240 |
| Sales rank: | 246,198 |
| Product dimensions: | 8.40(w) x 10.70(h) x 0.60(d) |
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CHAPTER 1
ACQUIRING YOUR FIRST CHICKS
Where you obtain your first baby poultry — whether they be chicks, keets, poults, ducklings, or goslings — will be determined to some extent by what breed or breeds you want and why you want them. Some sources are limited to one or only a few breeds; others offer a broad variety. And among all the potential sources, some carry strains that are more suitable for one purpose than another.
Selecting a Chicken Breed
The main purposes for keeping chickens are for eggs, for meat, for both eggs and meat, for exhibition, and for fun. Theoretically, these purposes are not mutually exclusive, but in reality a breed or hybrid that is considered suitable for both meat and egg production — called a dual-purpose or utility chicken — neither is as efficient at producing eggs as a layer breed nor grows as rapidly as a meat breed. Likewise, a strain that is developed primarily for exhibition generally does not lay as well or grow as fast as a strain within the same breed that has been developed for egg or meat production. Of course, if you want chickens just for fun, your choice is limited only by which breeds you most enjoy looking at.
You can learn more about the various available breeds and hybrids by visiting hatchery websites, by reviewing hatchery catalogs, and by reading a comprehensive book such as Storey's Illustrated Guide to Poultry Breeds. If your interest is primarily in exhibition, the American Poultry Association's illustrated and periodically updated Standard of Perfection is a must-have. Once you start homing in on a particular breed, seek out a regional or national club devoted to promoting that breed. Most such clubs have websites offering information and photographs on their chosen breed. Below is a quick review of the major breeds and hybrids, and the purpose to which each is best suited.
CHICKENS FOR EGGS
All hens, unless they are old or ill, lay eggs. The so-called laying breeds lay nearly an egg a day for long periods at a time. Other breeds lay fewer eggs per year, either because they take longer rest periods between bouts of laying or because they have a strong instinct to brood, and while a hen is incubating eggs she stops laying. Some breeds are nearly as prolific as those known as laying breeds, but they eat more feed per dozen eggs produced, and therefore are not economical as layers. The laying breeds share the following four characteristics.
They lay large numbers of eggs per year. The best layers average between 250 and 280 eggs per year, although individual birds may exceed 300.
They have small bodies. Compared to larger hens, small-bodied birds need less feed to maintain adequate muscle mass.
They begin laying at 17 to 21 weeks of age. Dual-purpose hens, by comparison, generally start laying at 24 to 26 weeks.
They do not typically get broody. Since a hen stops laying once she begins to nest, the best layers don't readily brood.
The most efficient laying breeds tend to be nervous or flighty. But kept in small numbers in uncrowded conditions, with care to avoid stress, these breeds can work fine in a backyard flock.
CHICKENS FOR MEAT
Any chicken may be raised for meat, but those best suited to the purpose were developed for rapid growth and heavy muscling. The meat, or broiler, breeds share four characteristics.
• They grow rapidly. These birds efficiently convert feed into muscle to produce economical meat.
• They feather quickly. Energy is spent building muscle instead of developing feathers.
• Their bodies are deep and wide. They have solid frames on which strong muscles grow.
• They are broad breasted. A sizable portion of white meat is harvested from these birds.
Breeds originally developed for meat include Brahma, Cochin, and Cornish. American dual-purpose breeds with the greatest potential for efficient meat production are the Delaware, New Hampshire, and Plymouth Rock. Although the Jersey Giant grows to be the largest of all chickens, it is not economical as a meat breed because it puts growth into bones before fleshing out, taking 6 months or more to yield a significant amount of meat for its size.
Our family raises chickens for both eggs and meat. Since we regularly hatch chicks to replace our older layers, and since approximately 50 percent of those chicks turn out to be males, we prefer a dual-purpose breed that both lays well and produces fairly hefty cockerels to fill our freezer.
DUAL-PURPOSE CHICKENS
Utility, or dual-purpose, straightbreds are the old-time farmstead chickens. They have four characteristics in common.
• They produce a fair number of eggs. Expect eggs-a-plenty, although the hens don't lay quite as efficiently as the breeds developed primarily for egg production.
• Chicks hatched from their eggs will be pretty much like the parent flock. They'll resemble their elders in temperament and body conformation.
• Excess cockerels are worth eating. However, they don't grow as efficiently as breeds developed primarily for meat production.
• They are good to exceptional foragers. They'll happily scrounge around in the yard or on pasture to obtain a great portion of needed proteins, vitamins, and minerals from bugs and plants.
HYBRID CHICKENS
Chickens developed for commercial meat production are hybrid — a cross between roosters of one breed and hens of another. Some of the best layers, particularly Leghorns, are not strictly hybrids but are a cross between roosters of one specialized strain and hens of another. Crossing breeds or strains produces chicks with hybrid vigor, which makes crossbred chicks stronger and healthier than either of their parents, resulting in better layers or faster growers than either breed or strain used in the cross.
Crosses are also made to take advantage of sex linkage, or characteristics that are genetically transmitted by genes carried on the sex chromosomes. These genetic characteristics allow chicks to be readily identified by gender from the moment they hatch by examining either color differences or rate of feather growth between the cockerels and the pullets.
Among layers, the pullets may be easily sorted out and raised as layers, while the cockerels are discarded as being uneconomical to raise because, of course, they don't lay eggs and they put too little meat on the bone to raise for meat.
Among broilers, sorting the sexes results in groups of chicks that grow at a consistent rate — cockerels generally grow faster and are ready for the freezer sooner than pullets.
Fast-growing industrial Cornish-cross hybrids are the most efficient meat chickens for rapid growth and have white feathers for clean picking. Because their primary goal in life is to eat and grow, they do best in confinement. For pasture-raised broilers, hybrids are developed that have colored feathers, making them less visible to predators. These color range broilers are also a type of Cornish cross, but instead of being bred from industrially developed strains, they are bred from slower-growing traditional strains. These hybrids grow more quickly than their straightbred parents, making them more efficient for meat production, but they grow more slowly than industrial broilers, making their meat more flavorful.
A few commercial hybrids, particularly among the brown-egg layers, are considered to be dual purpose. However, if your reason for keeping a dual-purpose flock is self-sufficiency, which includes hatching eggs from your own chickens, hybrids are not the way to go, since they do not breed true, meaning they do not uniformly produce offspring that are exactly like the parents. The only way to obtain more of the same is to go back to the original cross.
ORNAMENTAL CHICKENS
If efficient egg or meat production is not as important to you as having fancy chickens running around your yard, or you're hoping to get involved in exhibiting your chickens, consider the ornamental breeds. Although these breeds have been developed more for their aesthetic qualities than for the production of eggs or meat, some of them fall under the dual-purpose category. As a general rule, however, strains developed for exhibition purposes or as pets are bred more for appearance than for usefulness in producing eggs or meat.
Bantams
All bantams, because of their size and the small size of their eggs, are considered ornamental no matter how well they lay or how fast they grow. A bantam is a small chicken, about one-fourth to one-fifth as heavy as a large-size chicken and generally weighing 2 pounds (0.9 kg) or less. Not all bantams have the same ancestry as the large version of the same breed; some were developed from entirely different bloodlines to look similar, only smaller.
Nearly every large breed has a bantam version, but some bantams have no large counterpart. Bantams that do not are considered true bantams, while those that do are considered miniatures. But they are not exact miniatures — the size of their head, tail, wings, feathers, and eggs is larger than would be true of perfect miniatures.
Care to Try Turkeys or Guineas?
Other popular species of land-dwelling poultry, or land fowl, include turkeys and guinea fowl. Both are, in many ways, similar to chickens. However, unlike chickens, which are generally fairly quiet — provided you don't keep a rooster — guineas and gobbling tom turkeys make enough racket to disturb neighbors. They are therefore better suited to rural areas than to populated neighborhoods.
Turkeys are basically meat birds, and all turkeys make good eating, although some breeds are considered to be primarily ornamental because they are small bodied, or grow slowly, or have dark feathers that do not readily pluck clean. Industrial strains, on the other hand, are developed for broad breasts, rapid growth, and light-colored pinfeathers. If you plan to hatch turkey eggs, be aware that the broad-breasted strains cannot mate naturally because of their enormous weight and outsized chests. Propagating a broad-breasted turkey requires artificial insemination.
Guinea fowl, too, come in large (French and Jumbo) strains and smaller common strains. French and Jumbo guineas are generally raised for the table; their dark, tender, lean meat tastes a bit like pheasant. Common guinea fowl are somewhat smaller, although they, too, make good eating when harvested young. Their more typical use is to reduce populations of ticks and other bugs, to ward off snakes, and to deter predators through mob attack. They are also interesting to look at, and their antics are fun to watch. By contrast to all the different breeds available among chickens and turkeys, the dozens of strains of guinea are distinguished by feather color, the most common color being pearl, consisting of medium gray feathers covered with a profusion of white spots.
Choosing Ducks and Geese
Waterfowl — ducks and geese — are similar to turkeys and guineas in that their noisy quacking and honking can annoy neighbors. They are therefore best suited for less populated areas, unless you opt for quackless ducks, otherwise known as Muscovies. Although waterfowl are among the easiest domestic poultry to raise, they should never be brooded together with chicks or other land fowl. Ducklings and goslings love to splash in water and can create quite a messy brooder, while chicks, keets, and poults need to stay dry to avoid getting chilled.
Like all domestic poultry, some waterfowl breeds, strains, and hybrids are kept primarily for egg or meat production, while others are largely ornamental. Among ducks the larger, meatier breeds do not lay as well as the midsize dual-purpose breeds or the smaller breeds kept primarily for eggs. Breeds with white or light-colored feathers pluck cleaner, although the breeds with more colorful plumage are less visible to predators.
Among geese no breed is as prolific as the best layers among ducks. Most domestic goose breeds have been developed for meat, although some are primarily ornamental because of their small size. Mature geese are strong birds that can become angry when teased and aggressive during nesting season. The larger strains of Toulouse sometimes have trouble breeding naturally.
Finding the Hatchlings for You
Once you decide what kind of hatchlings you want, it's time to seek out sources. Some sources are highly specialized; others offer a broad variety of species and breeds. Some sources produce the same breeds year after year, while others introduce one or more exotic new breeds each year.
If you're getting poultry mainly for the fun of it, you needn't be as fussy about finding a source as you would be if you want birds that will produce eggs or meat economically or if you wish to be successful at showing. Below are the primary sources for chicks.
FARM STORE LIMITS
Not every farm store handles chicks, and those that do offer a limited selection for a limited time; chicks are generally available there only from early March through Easter week. Another disadvantage to buying at a farm store, especially at some big chains, is that the employees don't know, or are not allowed to tell you, what kind of chicks they are offering. An advantage is that you can get as few as you want or as many as they have.
One thing you want to avoid is getting free chicks when you buy a sack of chick starter ration. Those chicks are commonly Leghorn cockerels that most people have no use for, as they don't put enough meat on their bones to make good eating — and who needs a coop full of roosters?
Some farm stores, particularly the chains, obtain their chicks from hatcheries certified by the National Poultry Improvement Plan (NPIP; see box). Other farm stores, especially ones that are locally owned, acquire their chicks from local farmers who may or may not participate in NPIP.
LOCAL POULTRY KEEPERS: A GOOD START
Lots of people get their first chicks from a neighbor, which has the advantage that the strain is already acclimated to your local environment compared to birds you might purchase from some distant place. Connecting with local poultry keepers gives you someone to contact when you have questions or concerns about raising your own birds. Buying locally also gives you a chance to see the parent flock and verify for yourself that they are maintained in a sanitary and healthful condition.
Your local farm store may be able to tell you who has chicks for sale or may have a bulletin board where customers can post livestock for sale. Your county Extension agent should know who keeps poultry in your area and may know a 4-H member with chicks for sale. The county or local fair poultry show, if your county has one, is another place to meet local poultry keepers and is a good place to find out if your area has a regional poultry club whose members can be invaluable in helping you get started. Also check local free shopper newspapers, radio swap meets, and local networking websites, including the Craigslist classified ads (www.craigslist.org) for your locale. At those same places you might also post a wanted notice describing what breed you are looking for and how many hatchlings you are seeking.
KNOW YOUR LOCAL HATCHERY
A hatchery is a place that incubates eggs and sells the resulting chicks. In some cases the hatchery doesn't own the breeder flocks that lay the eggs but contracts with local farmers to obtain eggs from the desired breeds. In other cases the hatchery may own the breeder flocks and contract with local farmers to care for them, giving the hatchery somewhat greater control over the quality of the breeder flocks.
Not many of us live near enough to a hatchery to stop in to pick up a batch of chicks, and some hatcheries don't allow visitors, to prevent the introduction of poultry diseases into their facility. Those hatcheries that allow visitors are not likely to have birds on display and certainly are not likely to allow visitors into the hatching room. Even though a hatchery is nearby, call ahead to determine if they have what you want. You may have to order your chicks well in advance of when you want them, as hatcheries typically incubate eggs to fill orders rather than hatch eggs and then try to sell the chicks.
Some hatcheries are highly specialized, for example, at producing Leghorn pullets for local egg farms. Other hatcheries may deal solely with waterfowl, or turkeys, or guinea fowl. Unfortunately, a few hatcheries churn out large numbers of low-quality birds. Most hatcheries, however, do participate in NPIP.
HATCHERY CHICKS FOR SALE
Hatcheries offer several options for you to choose from. Among them are whether you want your chicks to be sexed or unsexed, vaccinated, or debeaked.
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "Hatching & Brooding Your Own Chicks"
by .
Copyright © 2013 Gail Damerow.
Excerpted by permission of Storey Publishing.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
IntroductionPart 1: The Chicks
1 Acquiring Your First Chicks
2 Setting Up Your Brooder
3 Managing Water, Feed, and Bedding
4 What to Expect as They Grow
5 Hatchling Health Issues
Part 2: The Eggs
6 The Broody Hen
7 Selecting an Incubator
8 Eggs for Hatching
9 Operating an Incubator
10 What Went Wrong?
11 Hatchling Identification
Appendix: Screwpot Notions
Glossary
Acknowledgments
Resources
Index
Interior Photography Credits
Related Subjects
Customer Reviews
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